a lost reality {hubris vs excalibros - day 3}

[Chevi]

BOLTS SPARK

DISTRICT THREE

The knife hit home, but did not seem to slow the career down by much, and the flames went out before catching on anything. Bolts bit his lips, at the same time disappointed and feeling guilty. The fight raged all around him, insults flashing as sharp as the blades did. He tasted something bitter, something metallic, in the air (or maybe on his tongue?). Mordecai was barely holding up, bleeding from multiple injuries. Would he be the first to go? Bolts didn't want him to. Too soon, much too soon...

A blade bit into Bolts' left arm and he cried out in pain. It had cut through the bandages from the day before, drawing blood in the same place the Yeti's bite had the day before. Not his dominant hand, but still, it would eventually slow him down... If he lived long enough to deal with the consequences. 

If.

>>"I'm sorry, Hyacinth. I'm sorry, Bolts. I have to do this. I have to."

Hyacinth's district partner. He knew his name. Bolts was almost grateful for it, for a split second; if someone was likely to kill him today, at least it would be someone who knew his name. Not just an enemy. Not just "District Three". Not just someone who was an obstacle to victory.

You and me both, Mitchell. 

By the time he'd turned towards Mitchell, the hit had already landed. Bolts' ears rang as the sword connected with the back of his head, and for a moment he lost balance as he blinked the red and yellow blotches in his vision away. His helmet had caught some of the damage, but it was impossible to tell how much, and he would not have felt it anyway, not with the rush of adrenaline roaring in his ears.

I'm fine. I'm fine. I can see. I can move. I can fight.

I can fight.  

The career, Asha, was still attacking Mordecai. Bolts readied another knife, flames licking along the blade, and ignored the pain as he took aim for another throw. 

BY CHELSEY

[Bolts attacks Asha with flaming throwing knife]
ujQ3I0IBthrowing knife
9136 -- Knife Deep in Neck -- 9.5 damage (+1 Target practice)
Fire roll:
1-50
+4 damagethrowing knife�1-50

[Python]

i'm the king
of my own land
facing tempests of dust
i'll fight until the end

She pinpointed the heart, but her sword skewered through his hand instead. Fingers were insignificant compared to a gaping hole in one’s palm, so she hoped the career learned his lesson about complaining. When he removed himself from her blade, dirtying its edge with blood, he cursed and ignored her in favor of Mordecai. He was popular among the blades, but why? After all of the scars he endured, all of the horrors etched into his skin, he remained a magnet for pain and blood. She didn’t understand why. There wasn’t an ounce of vulnerability in the way her carried himself – not until the shattered armor exposed his skin. It was nothing shocking to her. Her fingers had caressed every inch of that skin, and she had tried to memorize the burns like constellations. It was impossible.

Mordecai was a threat. That must’ve been their reasoning, and they weren’t wrong. He had skillfully murdered two people in the Bloodbath. She was impressed that they weren’t afraid of him. Perhaps that was another reason why they were stupid, yet their weapons were reigning supreme. They had weighed the costs and the benefits. Was it worth it?

Probably.

”Don’t apologize, Mordecai,” she said, because they weren’t worth a breath. ”They're not sorry.” So you shouldn’t be either. But he was a tortured angel sent from heaven. This was how he would act, be it his final moments or not. Vulnerable, gentle, all while trying to kill the red-head and extinguish her hellfire. Her knives sank into his back, over and over. The weakest point, the easiest target, such a cowardly and logical way to play this game. Hyacinth couldn’t promise herself that she would not do the same thing.

Mordecai didn’t deserve it, but who was she to decide?

She wanted it so badly; to tear out the red-head’s tongue or sew her lips shut to make sure she didn't speak another damned word to her dying Mordecai. Whoever Tobias was, he was at home, forced to watch this and forced to hear his own name come from a dying loved one’s lips. She wanted to stop it. Asha jabbed his sword into the same vulnerable area of Cai’s torso. Her breath hitched; she was surprised he wasn’t dead.

Hold on.

If he could find his grip in the darkness, maybe he would survive long enough. Ansgar and Bolts were at long range, hurling their knives in the midst of blurry rainfall. It was not enough.

Just a little longer, Cai.

Keep fighting.

Or maybe he was already dead.

creatures of my dreams
raise up and dance with me
now and forever
i am your king

[attacks Asha - sword]
zs6QK_6Usword
Deep Gash on Back of Head -- 9.0 damage

sword

[gamemaker kelsier]

This is a filler becasue I'm dying of a fever and an entire photography project due tomorrow + my split shift from hell woes

[Mordecai attacks Desimae with Axe]
ZAGdwPFeaxe
[11088 -- Deep Gash on Right Thigh -- 8.0 damage + 1 strength]

elegant

axe

[grim.]

d e s i m a e

    ;My nostrils where filled with the lingering stench that I could no longer bare. It swirled into the caves of my nose and cause my spine to wrinkle, my neck to crease. I feel my eyes become heavy, a pounding overcoming my eardrums. I couldn't hear the voices of those around me, my vision beginning to blur. The scent was drifting me into a state of shock. my cheeks flushed white, and my breath becomes sharp. Drip, drip...drop, ever sputter of blood across the floor pounding within my skull. I feel my feet beginning to tie themselves into a knot, and I feel like I may tumble. I had nothing left to give, the Capitol had nothing left to take.


    With the force of whatever was left in the poor trembling boy, his body stained red, his eyes leaking fear. He brings his blade down on my thigh, I feel the immediate pain and the vivid red that follows. I was becoming to familiar with how weak the body begins to feel at the lose of blood. The blow was hard enough to send me to my knees, but just as I fall the shadow of Jenoah blurs past my side, his weapon swiping the boy of his arm. And with that, he had fallen. He was so afraid, so apologetic, I killed that boy, I killed him with my own madness. Insanity overtaking me, confusion, frustration. I wanted to be back home, atop the trees the familiar snap of an apple stem departing from its mothers branch.


    I throw my two remaining knives to the ground, using the hilt of my heel to stomp the flame away. I then crawl myself toward my other two knives, retrieving them. My eyes fluttering open...and then shut, and then open again. His blood fills my palms and I feel the burn of only more tears. I could see his scars up close, the perfect circle of a cigarette placed seemingly thousands of times along his entire back. I feel my hand wrap around my mouth, that same sense of shock overtaking me for what I had done. I could feel the warmth of his blood smear across my lips, that burning scent causing me to flinch.


    I was done here, I was done with all of this. I peal my head up to the sky and shout. "WHAT THE FUCK ELSE DO YOU WANT?", my mouth sending spit into a flurry in front of me, my feet pulling me back to standing. Please, whoever may be up their...Ripred, Ava, even Bianca, give me something to come home to, give me a reason to continue my path in this hell. I pull my eyes shut, holding my arms out in defeat. But it was then, in that very moment that her face flickers behind my eyelids. Lilith, her yellowed smile, and vibrant red hair swimming in the gusts of winter. Her soft eyes full of obedience, of kindness. She was why I was here, she was the salvation that would bring me home.


    I pull my arms back to my sides, open my eyes, and I run. I run because there was still only forward to go. I run because this wouldn't be my end. Though I was responsible for the end of someone who was loved by someone else, or at least I had hoped. I had taken part in the end of someone who was once known as great to someone else, and I could no longer let Lilith see me behave like this. I can only imagine the timidness of her eyes as we meet again. The way she must resent me at this very moment, the way she would forever fear me. I would evolve, I could still be the real me, I always have been and that part of me has not drowned in that Rift, it did not flutter to my past like my fiery red locks. No, that girl was still very present, and truth would be my ally until the very end.

Table by Kousei

{desi skedaddles current fight}

[Tom]

I'LL MAKE IT THROUGH, BUT NOT THIS TIME mitchell laws YOUR HOPE IS GONE, AND SO IS MINE

Mordecai Wu falls slowly, like the tides from the boy's home. All he can see is the boy that lies under the skin, every emotion, every feeling, Mitchell can see it. Empathy escapes from him as he can still see the fear in Mordecai's eyes from the flames that burn upon Desimae's knives. Everything about the scene makes Mitchell want to run and hide, like he used to do with Carter. A game of hide and seek, but this time, he wanted to hide from the games. Hide from the death and despair that he encounters with every step he takes. The death and despair stare back at him waiting for the moment he'll come crashing down like Mordecai Wu and Myara Lowe. His walls raise higher with every dead pair of eyes, even Mordecai and Myara looked like they were at peace within death. The deck calls for him, the itch upon his hand growing more and more intense. Ignorance wasn't the way, neither was obeying, but he was going to obey the impulses. The King of Hearts, was only a man with so much emotions, but the King of Clubs was truly showing who the rightful king was. As Mordecai's body falls, all Mitchell can do is avoid staring for too long. His eyes catch Hyacinth and he stares there for his own comfort in the painful scene. Never once had Mitchell hit the man who was now going to die. All he could feel, see, and hear was the terror of the flame that burned the body. The deck screams out for Mitchell and he silences it by grabbing the cards, shuffling through, until he finds the King of Hearts. The pen comes next, like it had happened the day before. The rain patters softly upon the world, tears and cries of District Four as their male had fallen to the alliance that had taken Joselle. Asha Lumiere had crushed her skull with his bare fists. The rain slowly lands upon his back as he leans over the card protecting it from the water that falls from the sky. A shower that had come and gone all morning, even if he didn't want it, the showers came in sorrows for Mordecai Wu. He could imagine the looks of upset upon the capitolites' faces as another career has fallen. Mordecai's slim form lays upon the ground, red hair, dark and wet from the showers, the look of blood matching the hearts upon the card in his hand. The pen strokes against the white as he writes, Mordecai Wu, The king of hearts. A wave of water drawn upon the sides of it. A crescent moon forms in the sky above the wave. A scene of what Mordecai would become in the next life, if they had one. A calm tide of ocean water, comforting the shores and people with it's calming effect. A sigh escapes his lips as he shoves the pen back into his pack. Hyacinth is there. She is alive and all he can do is breathe a breath of relief. Hyacinth Mortuus was alive and well, her ally wasn't, but she was and that's what mattered in the end. In the showers, she still looked as strong and powerful as before. The card in his hand moves softly as he flips it in his hands. His voice escapes softly to Hyacinth as he throws the card towards her, "Hyacinth, you're the queen." Hoping she understands what he meant, without a king, there would always be a queen who would rule with a heart of stone. Hyacinth and Mordecai were the king and queen of hearts, their emotions and heart pulled them through the arena. Walled off from the rest of the world, he hides behind the stone, to avoid showing his true feelings. They would come crashing down one day, dead or alive. Mitchell Laws would have to face his own emotions, but in that moment, he stands like a warrior, even though he's a coward. Insanity threatening his mind every second of every day he was within the rocky arena, tempting to pull him away from the reality and force him to become the shadow creatures that the capitol would want. Killing and fighting for the pleasure of blood like he had done in bloodbath. Never would he go back to that feeling of wanting to see someone fall so fast. Now that he's seen Myara Lowe and Mordecai Wu fall, all he wants is to see no one else die, but this was his life. The life he would be stuck with, until he dies. Sins crawl at his skin, threatening to tear his body apart piece by piece. The hands upon his arms move forward. The holy man known as Ansgar Todd praying silently to himself. The perfect moment to strike like the shadows and capitol would want, but he hesitates like he had done the entire fight. I can't. I can't do it. "You must Mitchell." I won't do it Jack. I won't steal. "You can and you will!" The anger in his voice as he remembers his first steal. It had been only a simple few coins, but Mitchell was a good boy, always had been until Jack had changed him. This was the same situation, time and time again, just a different background and situation. Mitchell pushes himself forward as he silently creeps up on Ansgar Todd, hoping no one is watching him. The bag is easy to reach into. He's quick, silent, and deadly in his movements. A quick and planned strike as he shoves the item without looking into his own pack. Greed strikes him quickly as he goes to do it once more, but something else happened. A squeak and a nibble at his finger forces him to pull back, shrieking in fear as something bite him. "Ow! What the fuck was that?" Silence as Mitchell backs up once again, staring in awe at the bag he had just taken something from. Later he would check what it was, but his mind couldn't grasp what Ansgar would carry in his bag that would bite Mitchell in the hand to protect his items. Eyes catch Hyacinth as the rain continues to pour. They all looked like warriors, unlike Mitchell Laws, the coward who hesitated to attack for Hyacinth. Hyacinth had struck like her life depended on it, yet Mitchell couldn't. The words that had once fallen from his lips haunting his mind, I'll help you if I can. No one could help anyone win, only a person's own skill could save them now. Mitchell Laws was a coward, but he was still alive and so was Hyacinth Mortuus. A queen and the coward, the two would part ways for their next fight with their lives on the line. He only had one phrase for the queen. "Don't die, Hyacinth Mortuus."

Inspired by the lovely Chelsey <3

(uses thievery on Ansgar Todd)
tOwGgv|x1-20
(I'll decide in maintence!)1-20

[kousei ♚]

a s h a

filler im really sorry

[Asha Lumiere flees the fight]

[Kire]

Ansgar Todd

The world is falling away as the blood is falling away from the body of Mordecai. He knows in that moment that the other boy is not dead quite yet, but that it will not be long now. For all of his prayers to Ripred, for all of the guidance and strength he had sought, he had not been enough to protect this boy. Mordecai had asked him to pray and he had, but it hand't been enough. Ripred had deemed that it was Mordecai's time to die and nothing he could say would change the god's mind. It was not his place to question, he would simply have to accept it.

In his pocket, the rat quivers. She is unhappy at the strong scent of blood, knowing that someone is dying. Before him, the devil girl and the demon boy both run, their blood oozing slowly from their wounds. He wants to serve his promise, to drive his spear into their backs and bring them forth as a sacrifice to Ripred. They had taken an ally from him, and now they were running like cowards. You can run from me now, but you can not run from your sin. Ripred sees all.

Apologies but I can't focus on this post rn soooo this is a WIP.

Ansgar Flees

[Chevi]

BOLTS SPARK

DISTRICT THREE

Bolts watched as his knife cut deep into Asha's neck, and the flames singed his skin. He felt sick to his stomach, but that was something that had to wait, something to think about later once the fight...

...and then the fight was over.

Mordecai fell to the ground, and for a moment, Bolts did not understand why everyone stopped. Wasn't it... he had resolved to fight until someone finally struck him down. 
He never expected to not be the one to fall.

"Cai!..."

They fled. Bolts felt like the sick feeling had spread to everyone, making them run, trying to shake it, trying to get away from the others, all the apologies and all the accusations. It was too early in the Games, no one had the stomach for a kill, everyone was more scared of their own reflection in someone else's eyes than the enemy. 

The fire went out. Bolts was reeling, going through motions without really paying attention. Picking up knives. Wiping rain off his face, blood off his arm and leg. Sifting for bandages... Scavenging for words. What was he supposed to say? To Hyacinth, to Ansgar?... To Cai?

The world was watching with wide-open eyes.

BY CHELSEY

[Bolts flees the fight]

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

After Mordecai Wu's 11088 attack post and Desimae Warble's flee, there was a final attack post by Jenoah Rasoio as follows:

372: Jenoah Rasoio attacked Mordecai Wu with GLAIVE (13073) Attack was: SEVERED RIGHT FOREARM AT ELBOW doing 9.5 damage in total. Mordecai Wu's total damage: 46

This has been accidentally deleted.